2/26/16

Frequently people will donate unfinished projects to our Knitwits group. For some reason Jan, our leader, has decided I am the one to give those projects to. The projects come still on the knitting needles, sometimes with the yarn to finish them, sometimes not. Sometimes there's the accompanying pattern, most of the time not. I have the choice to finish these projects, or frog them. This month she gave me 4. I am going to finish three of them. The fourth, a blanket, will be frogged because there is only a few inches done and no pattern. I don't finish things in that condition.

One of the remaining three is this blanket.

It's a large version of the infamous Diagonal Knit dish cloth pattern. You make a blanket by just doing the increases until it's half a blanket big instead of just dish cloth big, then do the decreases.

There wasn't much left to do on it. When given to me, it was in the decrease part with just 157 stitches on the needles. It came with 4 balls of yarn too, so I finished it.

The yarn in this blanket is a really pretty cotton/acrylic blend with pastel colored slubs in it.

After finishing the blanket on Tuesday, someone pointed out that it looked really good with the leftover skein of Lemon yarn from yesterday's finished project. I have 2 full balls leftover. So now I'm using those leftover balls of blanket yarn and the lemon to knit a jacket, hat, and booties to go with the blanket. I will have layette set #8 soon.

Comments: I started out using another bootee pattern because I wanted the 3 color stripe pattern in them, but I didn't like the results, so I went back to the good ol' Seamless Garter pattern I've been using. I made them in solid black and brought the lemon and gray in for the cord ties to match the rest of the set.

I am already working on the next set.

Since my last post the Sears guys came and fixed my stove. It is so nice to have the big burner working properly again.

On Saturday, the 13th, I started the day with teaching a beginning knitting class. It was the second session and it went very well. All three students caught on very quickly. In fact, they all were completely finished with the class tasks by the end of the final session. I am quite proud of them.

After the class, I went to the local humane society to check out a German Shepherd that needed a home. I managed to strain my shoulder rather badly when I took her outside for a bit of a walk. Or maybe I should say the dog strained my shoulder. She was way too powerful for me and at one point shot backwards behind me, jerking my arm backward so hard and far I almost toppled over on my backside. She was also very alpha, so I didn't adopt her. She was just a little too strong for me.

By the next Tuesday my shoulder hurt so bad it was making me nauseous. I went to the doctor. Now I'm in physical therapy, for just a few sessions. Just the first 2 have done wonders. I can't believe how much better my shoulder is already. I have a couple more sessions next week and then I should be fine.

I had a nice Valentines day. My sweet hubby gave me a box of very good chocolates. I was very surprised because he doesn't ordinarily do anything for Valentines. I always give him one of those heart shaped boxes of chocolates though. In the evening we went to Paul Bunyans for dinner. Not a romantic place, but good food. It's a burger place in Rathdrum. I really like their burgers, and they have the best fries in the county.

Our 34th wedding anniversary was this last weekend. I enjoyed the day. Sweet hubby gave me a gorgeous vase of flowers.

I gave him a beautiful new shirt in a black, tan, and red plaid. We lazed around for the day, then drove up to Wolf Creek and had dinner at the Wolf Lodge Steak House. They have excellent food there. All in all, we spent a very pleasant and relaxing day together.

The weather today has been partially sunny and 51F degrees. I actually got to sit out on the deck in the sunshine and eat my lunch. It was wonderful. I was going to knit too, but the sun went behind the trees so I was sitting in the shade, and the breeze is rather frigid, so I came back into the house.

This morning I had to get going a little earlier than usual. I had to take my car in for it's body job. By tomorrow evening the dents and scratches from my altercation with the mailbox will be gone and my car will look all shiny and new again. I thought about getting it painted a different color. Purple came to mind, but when I asked how much it would cost I was told $10,000. Urg! We'll stick with the dark metallic gray, thank you very much.

2/12/16

Good grief, time flies by lately. Can't believe it's been 12 days since I've posted. How about a Simple Woman's Daybook entry?

Outside my window... Clouds. It was a little bit sunny earlier, but now the sky is getting thick with rain clouds. A few chickadees are munching at the bird buffet.

I am thinking... I am glad the Sears guys are here. They are working on my stove. I have a ceramic top range. The large double burner will only cook on high. Makes it hard when I want to simmer something. They are installing a new switch. It will be so nice to be able to use my burner again.

I am thankful for... Chenille, who is snoozing in my lap next to the laptop. She can be kind of grumpy at times, but I think she's a sweetie anyway.

From the kitchen... the sound of 2 Sears guys discussing how the new parts are installed in my stove. Sounds like one is training the other how to do it.

I am wearing... Blue jeans and a purple t-shirt that says "Stand back! I'm going to have to science the shit out of this." This is a saying from the movie The Martian starring Matt Damon. It's a very good movie, if you haven't seen it yet.

I am creating... baby booties. I'm trying a different pattern I've not done before. I made a baby sweater and hat with 3 colors of stripes and I want the booties to be striped too. So far, so good.

I am going... nowhere today. I've been waiting for the Sears guys to come fix my stove. After they leave, I'm going to bake a cake. I got a new bundt pan and I want to try it out. I threw my old bundt pan in the garbage after a terrible cake disaster last week. It was my turn to take a dessert to Knitwits. I usually bake a bundt cake that is very popular with the ladies. Well, the darn cake would not come out of the pan this time. When it finally did, I had a crumbled mess. It was quite upsetting. I can remember only once when I didn't have a problem getting a cake out of that pan. I started wondering why I've kept the dang thing, and then tossed it in the garbage can. I have bought a new pan made by the company that invented bundt pans, Nordic Ware. I got the Platinum Collection Non-Stick Cast Aluminum Anniversary pan. If that doesn't let go of cakes, nothing will.

I am reading... Blood Moon by Ed Gorman. It's a murder mystery.

I am hearing... already answered this question above.

Around the house... it's looking good. I got the housecleaning done early today.

A few plans for the rest of the week... not much of this week left. Tomorrow I am teaching the second session of a beginning knitting class. It started last week. I have 3 students and the first session went very well. All 3 caught on very quickly.

I am also hoping we might be able to go see a dog. I found one on Craigslist that I'm very interested in. I've emailed the owner. I sure hope it's still available. We're missing having a dog. If it's not available, I will keep looking.

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

While digging around I found this pic from the past of a necklace I made 7 years ago. More info here.